Some time ago, I wrote about prisoners in China being removed several parts of their bodies to sell them in the international organ market. An investigation from BBC has concluded that the market of organs appears to be thriving in China.
Organs from death row inmates are sold to foreigners who need transplants.
One hospital said it could provide a liver at a cost of £50,000 ($94,400), with the chief surgeon confirming an executed prisoner could be the donor.
China’s health ministry did not deny the practice, but said it was reviewing the system and regulations.
‘Present to society’
The BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes visited No 1 Central Hospital in Tianjin, ostensibly seeking a liver for his sick father.
Officials there told him that a matching liver could be available in three weeks.
One official said that the prisoners volunteered to give their organs as a “present to society”. [Oh, yes, and I am just so stupid as to believe it…]
He said there was currently an organ surplus because of an increase in executions ahead of the 1 October National Day.
China executes more prisoners than any other country in the world. In 2005, at least 1,770 people were executed, although true figures were believed to be much higher, a report by human rights group Amnesty International said.
In March, China’s foreign ministry admitted that organs from prisoners were used, but said that it was only in “a very few cases”.
Spokesman Qin Gang said that the organs were not taken forcibly, but only with the express permission of the convict.
But whether prisoners really are free to make up their own minds on organ donation just before they are executed is not at all clear, our correspondent says.
In April 2006, top British transplant surgeons condemned the practice as unacceptable and a breach of human rights.
But the No 1 Central Hospital carried out 600 liver transplants last year, our correspondent says, and the organ transplant industry has become big business.
So Europeans, we are so good to be opposing death penalty, but then use their organs to save lifes -nowadays this reason looks like that is OK for everyone-. The problem is that some of this organs are removed before the condemned has been killed, especially if he is a dissident -in the case of the link, Falung Gong prisoners-. Of course, BBC has not told that. So if it’s terrible that people are made to give their organs if they have not decided to, this is much more terrible, as the prisoners are “donating” alive their organs.
UPDATE: Le Monde: In China, the fight against corruption boosts the influence of the President Ju Hintao. In French, but very interesting.
Beijing interfering with US satellites
I came across this article on Drudge Report. It’s another fascinating case where the liberal MSM is biased insofar as they won’t cover serious international issues. When China starts to damage the surveillance cameras on US satellites, the public sho…
[…] Sky News (HT/ Atlas Shrugs) has released a shocking video about the new way to execute prisoners: Chinese authorities are using buses to kill prisoners sentenced to death with letal injections. This way it is much easier to remove the prisoners’ organs, contributing thus to the flourishing of the transplant’ s market in China, as I have written here before. The use of torture to obtain confessions is also widespread. And the prisoners’ name, even if they are found innocent after the execution, is not cleared. […]
Chinese Death Buses
Recently I’ve received an email from a friend over at Toastedbread on a particular post about the actions of Red China. It seems as if China needs to quicken its execution process to further their communist agenda and to continue the growth of its org…